Protestant Union

The Protestant Union was a coalition of Protestant German states that existed from 1608 to 1621. The alliance was formed by the Calvinist Frederick IV, Elector Palatine in order to defend the rights, lands, and people of each member state, and the alliance included both Calvinist and Lutheran states. Members of the union included the Electoral Palatinate, Wurttemberg, Hesse-Kassel, Brandenburg-Prussia, and several other principalities, duchies, and free city-states. The non-participation of Electoral Saxony in the union and disputes between the Lutheran and Calvinist states weakened the union, which was dissolved in 1621 after a series of military defeats early in the Thirty Years' War.